Mop head and the like



Nov. 21, 1933. R HENN MOP HEAD AND THE LIKE Original Filed May 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS Nov. 21, 1933. R F HENN 7 1,936,509

MOP HEAD AND THE LIKE Original Filed May 21, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 21, 1933 I'VEOP' HEAD AND THE LIKE Ralph F. Helm, Geneva, Ohio, assignor to The Du-All Mfg. Company, Geneva, Ohio, at corporation of Ohio Application May 21, 1931, Serial. No. 539,058 Renewed April 21, 1933 20 Claims.

This invention relates to mop heads and the like, and among other objects, aims to provide a mop head having an improved spring wire socket and connector so constructed and arranged that it will hold the mop head in any angular position relative to the handle, yet will permit turning thereof. The invention provides a strong and durable, yet resilient, connector for a mop handle and frame having coil spring bearing ;members so connected with the frame on which the swab is carried as to hold the frame frictionally in any angular position which it may assume, and so constructed as to'be self-tightening, thus permanently obviating looseness in the bearings.

Other aims and advantages of the invention will appear in the specification, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawin s, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan View showing oneform of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the socket of Figs. 1'

' one piece of wire and separate, removable wire coils are used to retain the swab, only'one such coil being shown;

Fig. 8 is an end view of the socket and mop head connection of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a plan View of the socket of Fig. 7, shown as it appears prior to assembly;

Fig. 10 is an elevation of the wire coil which holds the swab on the mop head of Fig. 7;

Figs. 11 and 12 are elevations of the opposite ends of the coil of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 13 is an end view of a further modified form of socket.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the form of socket there shown is secured to a handle 10 whose tapered end only is shown, as the handle is of conventional construction. In this example, the socket is tapered to having their convolutions wound in the same direction and in contact with each other, the construction being such that the tapered end of the handle may be screwed or thrust into the socket opening and the coils, upon being contracted by frictional contact with the rotated handle, will grip it very securely, yet release it when desired. The socket may be further and positively fastened to the handle by means of a screw 13 passing through an eye 14, formed on the end of one or both of the coils, although such a fastening is unnecessary; As clearly shown, the two wire coils are so wound as to provide a narrow, highly resilient spring wire neck N lying between the socket for the handle and the parts connected to the frame of the mop. This spring wire neck is bendable in all directions as the mop is pressed against a hard surface, such as a floor, and yields to the stresses, including those tending to rotate the mop head, without any tendency to pull the socket off the end of the handle.

As shown in Fig. 1, the ends of the coils beyond neck M present outwardly or laterally extending horns 15 and 16, each being spirally wound and of such diameter as to receive and frictionally grip a mop frame wire 1'7 of relatively large diameter before it is bent into the form illustrated. The construction is such that the horns or coils '15, 16 provide frictional bearings for the straight, central portion 18 of the wire frame. These coils are preferably, though not necessarily, wound in opposite directions, so that one of them'will always tend to be wound tighter and closer about the frame as the frame swings in either direction. In other words, one coil will tend to open and the other will tend to close on the straight portion 18 of the frame when the frame has pivotal movement. Thus, the angular position of the mop head with respect to the handle will not be changed by ordinary swinging of the handle, and the head will be held by friction until it comes in contact with a wall or floor, when itwill be swung by pressure transmitted through the handle.

The bearing coils 15, 16 are preferably so constructed and arranged that, when the frame wire 17 is inserted through them, they are placed under tension or biased so as to exert wear-compensating pressure on the portion 18 of the frame.

In Fig. 3, the axes of the coils are rectilinear but disaligned, so that the bearing coils must be sprung or turned relative to each other about the axis of the handle socket to permit the frame wire to be inserted. As shown, the end of the coil 15 will have to be turned clockwise and the end of the coil 16 counterclockwise to bring them into approximate alignment. This turning is readily done because the two coils 11, 12 of the socket may move relative to each other, in the forms of Figs. 1-6 inclusive. When the frame wire is inserted, the bottom portions of the bearing coils at their inner ends (as viewed in Fig. 3) will engage and exert upward pressure on the frame wire; while the upper portions of the outer ends of the bearing coils will exert downward pressure on the frame wire, thereby firmly gripping the frame wire 18 even if it is worn.

In Fig. 4, the bearing coils 16 are shown as being disaligned with their axes parallel. When they are sprung into alignment by inserting the frame wire, they will also exert wear-compensating pressure on the portion 18 of the frame wire in somewhat the same manner as described in connection with Fig. 3. In both embodiments, the bearing coils will tend to bend the frame wire toward their normal positions; but the frame wire is of sufficient rigidity to resist such bending.

In Fig. 5 the bearing coils 15 16 are formed with their axes e"tending forwardly each at an acute angle to a plane perpendicular to the axis of the handle socket coils 11 12 In this case, the bearing coils have to be sprung rearwardly at their outer ends when the frame wire is inserted and both of them also exert wear-compensating spring pressure on the wire frame.

In Fig. 6, I show a further modification wherein the wire bearings 15, 16 have their axes slightly curved, the convolutions being in contact on one side and slightly spaced apart on the opposite side, as clearly shown. Thus, when the straight wire portion 18 is thrust through said bearings, they are straightened, but exert a strong gripping pressure on the portion 18. a

While the mop frame 17 may be made of a great variety of shapes, it is here shown as having similar arms 19 bent rearwardly from the straight bearing portion 18 at the ends of the coils 15, 16 and then forwardly, converging toward the front. Obviously the bending of arms 19 takes place after the portion l8'of the wire is thrust through the two bearing coils, and while the socket and wire portion 18 are rigidly clamped. The front ends of the wire 1'. are spaced to per mit the handle to pass between them when reversing the mop, also to permit the mop element or swab (not shown) to be applied and removed very easily.

In all the forms heretofore described, the wire socket is made of two separate pieces of wire coiled together. In Figs. '7, 8 and 9, the invention is embodied in a wire socket 20 made of a single piece of wire bent at its middle, as indicated at 21, and doubled on itself and then coiled to make a tapered socket for the handle end 10. A screw or tack 22 may unite the socket 20 to the handle, if desired, although the frictional grip of the socket on the handle is quite suflicient to hold the mop head on the handle. The two ends of the one wire are coiled closely to provide bearing coils 23, 24 which are about twice as '1 long as coils 15, 16, thus providing at least twice as much friction, insuring non-movement of the mop head when swung through the air even after the mop has been in use a long time. The straight portion 18 of the wire frame is longer than the portion 18 of Fig. 1 because of the increased 23, 24 are initially slightly curved longitudinally, as may be done by coiling each coil about an arcuate mandrel, the result being that when the two coils are straightened by insertion of the heavy wire portion 18 they are brought into alinement (Fig. 1) and grip the straight wire portion 18 more tightly than if, initially formed straight.

Fig. 13 shows still another form, wherein each coil 23 24 has an end portion bent to one side, as the socket is viewed from the end. This form suggests an alternative way of forming the socket of Fig. 9, namely, to bend each bearing coil at some point intermediate its ends in a direction away from the socket portion. Thus the bending is at one point in each coil, as in Fig. 13, instead of being distributed throughout the length of each coil, as in Fig. 9.

To secure the mop element or swab on the frame, a wire to which cotton yarn is sewed is closely coiled during the process of forming the swab, in accordance with the disclosure of the Carter Patent, No. 1,209,639, assigned to the assignee of the present application. In actual practice, there are many strands of cotton yarn between each convolution of the wire coil 25, so that the coils are slightly spaced apart, as illustrated. The cotton yarn completely covers the wire coil 25 and hence is not illustrated. The wire coil 25 is initially straight, as shown in Fig. 10, and has an end portion 26 of enlarged diameter, as shown, with its extremity 27 bent inwardly so that the point cannot protrude through the yarn and scratch woodwork. The enlarged end portion is completely covered by the yarn, and is designed to fit snugly over one of the bearing coils 23, 24 (Fig. 7) or 15, 16 (Fig. 1), when enlarged end 26 is slipped over an end of wire 17 and pulled around arm 19 The frictional resistance offered by the bent wire frame to the wire coil 25 and the yarn united thereto is such that once the swab is in place, it will not be dislodged while the mop is being used in dusting; but it may easily be pushed off by working at the enlarged end 26. Obviously, the peculiar shape of the wire frame and the close fitting of end 26 upon the bearing coil aid in holding the swab in position, the enlarged coil end 26 being bent nearly at right angles to pass over the bearing coil. At the outer end, wire coil 25 has its other extremity 28 turned into the coil, as Fig. 11 shows, thereby obviating scratching of woodwork.

Instead of employing a wire coil as a means for holding the swab removably positioned on the mop head, I may employ a swab having a tubular fabric portion (not shown, but known in the art) which may be slipped over the ends of the frame and tied in position. The form of Fig. '7 is much to be preferred, however, because of the ease of placing and removing a swab.

The described constructions provide good connections between a mop head and its handle and do not require any adjustments to compensate for wear. Furthermore, the constructions permit the handle to have a desirable amount of universal movement with respect to the mop head on account of the resiliency of the handle socket at the neck N. The handle may be swung to either side at its upper end while the mop is held flat on the floor so that the user may dodge any obstructions or hold the handle clear of a wall when mopping or dusting near a mop board. When the mop head hits an obstruction, such as a table leg, the resiliency of the neck N is such that the head may slide around the obstruction without a lateral movement of the handle, and then will snap back into its initial position. In fact, the head can be turned nearly at right angles while approximately in the plane of the handle and the resilient socket will automatically restore the head to its normal position (Fig. 1). This resiliency of the socket allows the head to cling to .baseboards and also to clean them more readily than is possible with mops having a rigid handle connection. Furthermore, the resilient neck contributes to long life for the socket connection and facilitates shaking dust out of the swabs, because of the vibrations set up in the neck when the handle is shaken.

While I have described and shown the invention as embodied in a socket connection, some of the advantages of the invention may be realized in a construction having no socket for the handle; the handle being secured as by screws or other fastening means as clamps; hence, certain of the appended claims are not limited to a connection with a socket.

Obviously, the present invention is not restricted to the particular embodiments thereof herein shown and described. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all the features of the invention be used conjointly, since they may be employed advantageously in various combinations and subcombinations.

What I claim is:

l. A mop head and the like comprising, in combination, a socket adapted to be secured to one end of a handle; spiral bearing coils formed on the outer end of said socket and projecting laterally and outwardly relative to the handle; and a wire frame passing through said bearing coils and interlocked therewith but swingable within said coils, which closely fit the frame wire.

2. In combination with a mop frame, a wire socket secured to a handle; and oppositely extending spiral coil bearings at one end of the socket, both coil bearings being of suflicient diameter to receive axially and fit closely upon a portion of the mop frame and both being biased to exert lateral spring pressure on the mop frame where the latter passes through said coil bearings.

3. A wire socket for mops and the like comprising a pair of coils wound so that their convolutions alternate and are in contact with each other, and provide a socket adapted to receive one end of a handle; and opposed laterally projecting and oppositely wound spiral bearing coils of relatively small diameter formed at one end of said socket.

i. A wire socket for mops and the like comprising dcuble coils adapted to frictionally grip a handle end; oppositely disposed and disaligned bearing coils formed on the outer ends of said double coils arran ed to receive axially a wire frame and to exert wear-compensating pressure thereon.

5. A wire socket for reversible mop heads comprising double spring wire coils wound so that the convolutions are adjacent each other and alternate with each other and providing a socket for 1 one end of a handle; and a pair of opposed, spiral bearing coils formed on the outer ends of said double coils and having their axes at an obtuse angle to each other whereby they will be biased to exert wear-compensating pressure when a straight bearing portion of the mop frame is journalled therein.

6. A wire socket for reversible mop heads comprising double spring coils adapted to be secured to a mop handle; and a pair of laterally extending spring bearing coils formed on the outer ends of said double coils and having their axes parallel and offset with respect to each other whereby they will exert wear-compensating pressure on a mop frame journalled therein.

7. In combination with a mop head, a wire socket made of two wires wound so that the convolutions are adjacent each other; oppositely extending bearing coils formed on the lower ends of the socket coils and extending in a line substantially at right angles to the axis of the socket; and a mop frame presenting a straight portion journalled in and snugly fitting said bearing coils and having arms bent rearwardly and forwardly to receive the swabs of a mop; the frictional resistance offered by the bearing coils, also the tendency of said coils to tighten around said straight portion, acting to hold the mop frame in any position, so that its free end does not swing downwardly by gravity and hang downwardly.

8. In combination with the wire frame'of a mop, a combined handle socket and frame connection formed of two spring wires wound together in the same direction to provide a socket, and a tapering, resilient neck at one end of the socket; the ends of said wires beyond the neck being spirally coiled and projecting laterally with respect to the socket portion and forming wire frame gripping members for holding the wire frame by friction against free swinging.

9. In combination with the wire frame of a mop, a combined handle socket and frame connection formed of two spring wires wound together in the same direction to provide a socket, and a tapering, resilient neck at one end of the socket; the ends of said wires beyond the neck being spirally coiled in opposite directions and projecting laterally with respect to the socket portion; said wire frame having a straight portion passed through the two spiral coils and being resiliently gripped by said coils.

10. In combination with the wire frame of a mop, a combined handle socket and frame connection formed of two spring wires wound together in the same direction to provide a socket, and a tapering, resilient neck at one end of the socket; the ends of said wires beyond the neck being spirally coiled in opposite directions and projecting laterally with respect to the socket portion; said wire frame having a straight portion passed through the two spiral coils and being resiliently gripped by said coils; said spiral end coils having their axes at an obtuse angle to each other.

11. In combination with the wire frame of a mop, a combined handle socket and frame connection formed of two spring wires wound together in the same direction to provide a socket, and a tapering, resilient neck at one end of the socket; the ends of said wires beyond the neck being spirally coiled in opposite directions and projecting laterally with respect to the socket portion; said wire frame having a straight portion passed through the two spiral coils and being resiliently gripped by said coils; said spiral end coils having their axes parallel to each other.

12. In combination with the wire frame of a mop, a handle connection formed of two wires; a resilient neck formed by said two Wires; and a resilient bearing formed by the extremities of said wires; said resilient bearing being provided by two spiral coils projecting in generally opposite directions and having sufficiently small diameters to grip resiliently the, wire frame.

13. In combination with a mop frame formed of' relatively heavy wire bent to provide an intermediate straight portion, a handle connection formed of lighter wire and having means for attachment to the end of a handle; said handle connection having two laterally projecting, spiral bearing coils which are oppositely wound and which are of such diameter as to frictionally grip the straight portion of the wire mop frame, and also having a resilient neck which is between the bearing coils and the handle attaching means.

14. In combination with a mop frame formed of relatively heavy wire bent to provide an intermediate straight portion, a handle connection formed of lighter wire and having means for attachment to the end of a handle; said handle connection having two laterally projecting, spiral bearing coils which are oppositely wound and which are of such diameter as to frictionally grip the straight portion of the wire mop frame, and also having a resilient neck which is between the bearing coils and the handle attaching means; and means for removably holding a swab on the mop frame comprising an initially straight wire coil core whose convolutions are spaced apart to receive between them the yarn making up the body of the swab; said wire coil core fitting over the wire frame and also over a bearing coil.

15. In combination with a mop frame formed of relatively heavy wire bent to provide an intermediate straight portion and two spaced ends, a handle connection formed of lighter wire and having means for attachment to the end of a handle; said handle connection having two laterally projccting, spiral bearing coils which are oppositely wound and which are of such diameter as to frictionally grip the straight portion of the wire mop frame; and means for removably holding a swab on the mop frame comprising an initially straight wire coil core whose convolutions are spaced apart to receive between them the yarn making up the body of the swab; said wire coil core having an end portion of enlarged diameter so as to fit over one of the bearing coils; the frame being so shaped and the frictional contact of the core and the yarn with the frame being such that the wire coil core is substantially immovable, once in position, yet may be pushed off the wire frame by working at the enlarged end.

16. In combination with a mop frame formed of relatively heavy wire bent to provide an intermediate straight portion and two spaced ends, a handle connection formed of lighter wire and having means for attachment to the end of a handle; said handle connection having two laterally projecting, spiral bearing coils which are oppositely wound and which are of such diameter as to frictionally grip the straight portion of the wire mop frame; andmeans for removably holding a swab on the mop frame comprising an initially straight wire coil core whose convolutions arespaced apart torreceive between them the yarn making up the body of the swab; said wire coil core having an end portion of enlarged diameter so as to fit over one of the bearing coils; the opposite end of the wire coil core covering the end of the wire frame and having its extremity projecting within itself; the frame being so shaped and the frictional contact of the core and the yarn with the'frame being such that the wire coil core is substantially immovable, once in position, yet may be pushed off the wire frame by working at the enlarged end.

1'2. A core for mop swabs consisting of a highly flexible, initially straight, coil of relatively fine wire whose convolutions are spaced apart for receiving the yarn, said core having its terminals projecting within itself, and having one end portion of enlarged diameter.

18. A socket for connecting a handle and a mop frame made of a single piece of wire bent at its middle and doubled upon itself and coiled into a socket which may receive the end of a handle; the two ends of the wire projecting in opposite directions and closely coiled to provide two lateral horns of small diameter; the convolutions of each coil being in contact on one side and slightly spaced on the opposite side so that each coil is arcuate.

19. A socket for connecting a handle and a mop frame made of a single piece of wire bent at its middle and doubled upon itself and coiled into a socket which may receive the end of a handle; the two ends of the wire projecting in opposite directions and closely coiled to provide two lateral horns of small diameter; the convolutions of each coil being in contact on one side and slightly spaced on the opposite side so that each coil is arcuate; said socket also having a tapering, resilient neck between the portion which receives the handle end and the two lateral horns, said neck being yieldable laterally in all directions.

20. A socket for connecting a handle and a mop frame made of a single piece of wire bent at its middle and doubled upon itself and coiled into a socket which may receive the end of a handle; the two ends of the wire projecting in opposite directions and closely coiled to provide two lateral horns of small diameter; each coil being straight for a portion of its length and bent at an intermediate point to provide an end portion slightly disaligned relative to the remainder of the coil.

RALPH F. HENN. 

